UK Government In Major Push For Women In The Boardroom

The UK government is deadly serious about its commitment to the progression of women in the workplace - with special attention to increasing their numbers in the boardroom, and in senior executive positions. (Of course, this has nothing whatsoever to do with pressure from the European Union.)

Today, Charlotte Sweeney, who was tasked with looking at the role played by executive search firms - or headhunters - in promoting qualified female candidates for boardroom positions, reaffirmed the virtues of an 'accreditation process' to acknowledge those search firms "who are at the forefront of helping boards to enhance their gender diversity."

While UK Business Secretary Vince Cable is already looking beyond gender diversity to ethnic diversity and better representation in the UK's boardrooms, the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) continues to keep a close eye on the role executive search firms play in boardroom appointments. Six months after a review in early 2011 by Lord Davies for the UK government on the under-representation of women in the boardrooms of publicly listed companies, a first 'voluntary code of conduct' was drawn out of a handful of headhunters. It did not amount to much.

Using a fairly relentless 'carrot and stick' approach since then, the UK government has seen considerable progress in the appointment of women to FTSE boards. But the new enhanced code, one of the recommendations of the Sweeney review, makes it clear there is nowhere to hide to 'duck' or avoid gender diversity as a 'must-have' imperative for business.

Its 'accreditation criteria' for FTSE 350 headhunters begin with "In the preceding 12 months….they will have supported the appointment of at least four women to the boards of FTSE 350 companies over the last year." The enhanced code goes on to suggest they will also have "achieved a proportion of at least 33% female appointments in their FTSE 350 board work (across both executive and non-executive director roles). They will also "have a proven record of helping women to achieve their first FTSE 350 board appointment."

In other words, it seems the UK government has persuaded the executive search firms, with the creation of an enhanced code, to embrace professional requirements hitherto undefined - globally, executive search is an unregulated business. Anyone with a laptop and a rolodex (or the modern equivalent) can become a headhunter, and certainly in the UK, having an excellent and exclusive network has had significant benefits.

The awards for accreditation, determined "at the sole discretion of the Davies steering group" have now been announced, and the names of the headhunters who have met the new criteria published.

If this is yet another 'club' that headhunters are keen to join, they are going to have to work hard - rather than merely network hard with existing boardroom contacts- to do it.

For the UK, this is also an important step in recognising that the lack of women in senior positions may well be more of a 'demand' problem than one of 'supply.' BIS has gone out of its way to consult with more than the usual 'likely suspects' on this issue, in order to determine where the truth lies.